WASHINGTON — Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed what many have already known to be true; that Black and Latino communities have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus.
The data shows that members of these communities are three times as likely to become infected as their White counterparts, and twice as likely to die. These disparities are nationwide, showing up in both metropolitan and rural areas crossing all age and economic groupings.
There is a saying: When White America catches a cold, Black America catches pneumonia. Increasingly, this fact seems to apply to our Latino family, and Native Americans as well. This has been a fact of American life, often explained away by higher prevalences of underlying health issues. But this data shows an inequity not just in deaths, but in higher transmission rates as well, which have nothing at all to do with comorbidities and everything to do with the unequal nature of our society.
The release of this data can be a huge help in addressing these issues, by pointing out the failings in our health care systems. Knowing where the holes are, public health officials can place the necessary resources into the gaps, shoring them up. It also gives the people in the impacted communities much needed information to help keep themselves and loved ones healthy. On the national level, it brings light to our societal failings, exposing them, which then, in turn, allows us to address them.
Knowing this: Why did it take the New York Times bringing a lawsuit against the CDC to force them to release this data? Shouldn’t this information be given freely to the American public?
The first sentence of the CDC's mission statement reads, in part, "To protect America from health, safety and security threats." The statement also says that the "CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same."
Really? Then why did it take a court order to get vital facts about these communities out? How are you supporting the citizens within them if you don’t make known to them the challenges they are facing? Colds make one vulnerable to pneumonia, but they don’t have to develop into it. This lack of transparency kept citizens unaware, placing their health at risk.
Members of the CDC must do better, period. They should be appalled at these rates and rather than looking to hide them away, they should be addressing them head on. THAT, is how you keep a cold in check.